Wild & Natural Herbs
from the Amazon Rainforest

"Amazon - Beyond the Myth"
by Indigenous Guide Hector Vargas

Ecuador is one of the smallest Amazonian countries with a size comparable to the state of Colorado in the USA, which is 0.17% of the planet. However, with its 9,600 species per square kilometer, Ecuador is the most biologically diverse country per square unit on earth.

One of the most environmentally and culturally diverse and rich regions of the world is being destroyed by the impact of human activities centered around the drilling and production of oil. The oil companies started to operate in the Amazon in the early sixties. The oil development included building of roads and highways that carve through former jungle areas, providing access to colonists from the coast and highlands of Ecuador. Already 20% of the tropical forest has been destroyed and many other fragile and environmentally and culturally rich places are severely impacted. The rate of destruction is truly alarming.

SUMAK ALLPA (which means 'the land of no pain') is a non profit organization based in Puyo, Ecuador. The organization was started in 2000 with a mission to preserve, protect and enhance the culture, wildlife and jungle ecosystems. In 2005, we started the SUMAK ALLPA PROJECT, located on the Rio Napo (Napo river is one the 14 mega tributaries of the Amazon river).

The project has two objectives tailored to respond to these concerns:

First, to increase the number of healthy primates (from seven different species) which can live, grow and multiply in the wild versus in captivity. Our final goal and success will be measured by the number of babies reproduced in situ and later transferred to other protected areas elsewhere in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Second, to educate elementary school children who otherwise do not have any formal education. The curricula will emphasize environmental education such are reforestation, and monitoring of the primates. This educational objective is closely tied to the first one. As children (and through them, their families and friends) become more knowledgeable about their own culture, traditions, habitat and their impact on the primates, they will find other ways to protect, manage, and derive economic and personal value from their homelands.

The school was created last year on the Napo river bank. Working with all the local families, the school was built and 14 children went to school the first year (September 2006-07). For some of those children the closest school was located four miles away from their home. These children used to go to school navigating their own paddle canoe, which, under normal conditions takes three hours. However, when the river water rises too high, they could not go at all.

SumaK Allpa school is led by a bi-cultural and bilingual teacher. This school is the only chance for these families to have their children educated. The educational program is based on cultural facts, ethnical history and language.

To get into our goals of by cultural education, in October 2007 Sumak Allpa school will host ten elders, men and women, from the Quichua group. They will give their invaluable contribution of their histories. This text book will be the first in the history of the bilingual and bicultural education ever done. Oral traditions will be compiled, taped and translated into Spanish and edited later in the original language (Quichua).

We rely on help and contributions done for many friends of SUMAK ALLPA, and thanks to all of them those 14 children concluded their first year of education. As a complement to their education, at the end of the first school year they had the great opportunity to travel to the coast of Ecuador. This was the first time for them out of their homelands in the jungle, this was the first time for them experiencing cold weather, and their first time that they saw the ocean, plus the Humpback Whales. As one of them said, "I have never seen such a big river, but it's too salty!"

This second year we started the school with more challenges than before. We really hope the Sumak Allpa school children will finish their elementary school education and be able to continue ahead to high school.  We want them to be instigators of change, with the ability to make educated choices about their future and the future of the Amazon.

Once again thanks for making a big difference in those childrens lives and thanks for your support for Project Sumak Allpa.

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